Infosys co-chairman Ravi Venkatesan believes that the $20 Billion revenue target that was decided upon by CEO Vishal Sikka isn’t exactly feasible. The board of directors at the company will now sit down together to arrive at a more realistic figure and come up with a strategy which is also acceptable to the company’s promoters — who have of late, been at odds with the management.
When CEO Vishal Sikka came up with a bunch of goals in 2015, people were awed. The goals included $20 billion in revenue, profit margins of 30% and achieving $80,000 in revenue per employee. Ambitious goals sure, but Sikka set a target of 2020 as the date when these goals should be realized by Infosys.
Well, the board is now having second thoughts about the date, if not the goals. Speaking on the topic, Venkateshan said:
The (numbers) seem achievable. The time frame to achieve that is a different thing. Realistically, it does not look like they will be achievable by 2020.
The newly constituted committee of directors is working very closely with Vishal and the management to (see) what takes the place of these target.
The company found itself in troubled waters of late after founder NR Narayan Murthy spoke about is disenchantment with the poor firm amid what he termed as poor corporate governance. He had also talked about the high compensation offered to senior positions, particularly abroad. All of these issues will now be considered and corrected one by one by a committee set up by the Infosys board.
We have underestimated the importance of gaining this consensus. Vishal, very excitedly, started off down the transformation path and what we have ended up (with) is misalignment, concerns and anxiety about a whole set of issues ranging from compensation and values and this, that and the other.
It also appears as if the company has mellowed its approach towards its founders and promoters and we could see the latter, come togeather with the former to assist the company out of its troubled waters. We will know more one the board meets together to discuss the company’s strategy in the near future.
